


Seven

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: Swan Song Bingo [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cursed Object, I'm so mean to him, M/M, Poor Sam, Sorry Sam I Promise I'll Write You Some Nice Fluff Soon, Suffering Sam, lots of death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 16:36:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19445365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: The only way to save Sam's life is to let him die.  Repeatedly.





	Seven

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Sastiel Creations Challenge  
> Prompt: "Seven" - David Bowie  
>  _Seven days to live my life_  
>  _Or seven ways to die_
> 
> Written for Heaven and Hell Bingo  
> Square: Falling
> 
> Written for Sam Winchester Bingo  
> Square: Patient/Caregiver
> 
> Written for Swan Song Bingo  
> Square: Witches

It was pointless. There was nothing Sam could do. Castiel had chosen to cut out his grace, and when that happened, Heaven threw him out to be reborn as human. All going after him would do would be to get Sam killed, and yet, Sam dove.

He caught Castiel after a few seconds of freefall. Castiel gave him his very best grumpy look, considering he didn’t really have a face to look with. “What happens now? We both die when we hit the ground, me to be reborn as a human and you to go right back up to Heaven?”

“I know, this was dumb, but… I couldn’t let you go alone, Cas. I couldn’t.” Sam wrapped himself around Castiel. “I love you. You won’t remember me, I know, but I don’t care. I just hope some of that love rubs off and you never feel unloved or unlovable in your new life, like you did in this one.”

“Sam, that’s sweet, but…” Castiel held on tight. “I wish I could save you. I’m powerless now.”

“I know. I knew what I was in for when I jumped. It’s okay, Cas.” Sam closed his eyes and waited. It wasn’t long before he slammed into the ground, and darkness took him.

Dean watched as Sam screamed along with the sickening sound of bones breaking, and rounded on Rowena. “Was that supposed to happen?”

“Yes. It was. I told you, this is going to be a long, difficult process, and you probably don’t want to watch. Take your angel and wee Jackieboy and go somewhere far, far away.” Rowena picked up a potion and forced it little by little down Sam’s throat. “I promise, this is better than the alternative.

“Not going anywhere. My brother is not going through this alone, and someone’s gotta keep an eye on you. If Jack can’t handle it, Cas can take him somewhere.”

It was all so familiar, but Sam couldn’t focus on that. The only thing he could think about was the sweet, beautiful girl who was trapped inside the building and needed to get out. “Jess! Jess, where are you?”

Jess couldn’t answer in words, but Sam could follow the coughing and the feeble attempts at screams and find Jess pinned to the ceiling in their bedroom. He jumped, managing to catch her hand, and although it took a lot more strength than he’d have expected, he managed to get her off the ceiling and to the ground. She was barely able to stand, but it didn’t take much encouragement from Sam for her to start making her way to the door.

Sam was right behind her, right up until the ceiling caved in. His reflexes were good enough that he could shove Jess out of harm’s way, but a heavy beam landed on him, pinning him in place. Jess started back toward him. “No, Jess! Get out of here! You’ll be trapped too!”

“But… I can’t…”

“Yes, you can. Get out of here. Go live your life. Jess, I love you, please just get out of here and live.” Tears streamed down Jess’s face, but she nodded, blew one last kiss to Sam, and then fled. Sam closed his eyes and let the fire take him.

Burns crackled across Sam’s skin. Castiel picked up a wet washcloth and gently ran it over Sam’s face and arms, doing his best to soothe Sam’s pain. “You’re sure I can’t use my grace to help him? This is so hard to watch, knowing I’m helpless.”

“I know. Yes, I’m sure. We don’t have much room for error, and grace would cause the dream to fail.” Rowena patted Castiel’s shoulder and forced another dose of the potion into Sam. “I know it’s hard, but you can manage.”

“I can. I’m worried about Jack, and Dean. I can’t do much for Sam besides be here, but there must be something I can do for those two. Any ideas?”

Rowena shook her head. “Other than convince them to be somewhere else so they don’t have to watch Sam suffer, no. Handholding and caretaking was never my strong suit, you know.”

The kid was going to drown. Sam didn’t even think before kicking off his shoes and running for the dock. It was deep enough for diving, which meant Sam could get to the boy. When they surfaced, Sam swam for the shore. 

Then he felt something grab his foot. He pushed Lucas as hard as he could toward the shore before turning back to try to fight. He just had time to see Dean hauling Lucas in before he was pulled under. Hopefully, that would be enough to keep Dean distracted instead of trying to come after him.

Of course, it wasn’t. Dean came out after him, but it was too late. The lake had too strong a hold on Sam, and he was drawn out deeper and deeper. At least it was relatively peaceful.

“Uh, Rowena?” Jack looked away from Sam in confusion. “Sam’s coughing up water.”

“I know it’s hard to believe, Jack, but that’s a good thing. You might be a dear and get a towel to help clean it up, the poor boy’s going through enough without having to sleep in a wet bed.” While Jack was gone, Rowena did her best to force the next dose of the potion through the coughs bringing up water. She’d just finished when Jack got back.

Jack set to work cleaning up the water. “What happened to him, Rowena? Dean and Castiel won’t tell me anything, other than he got cursed.”

“He was rooting through a box of artifacts, and opened something he shouldn’t have. The Men of Letters had collected it – it had been cursed by a witch who made a deal with Abaddon for her powers – and they wanted to keep it safe. The curse itself is nasty. I don’t know if there was a target or the witch was just that determined to protect the heart inside the box.”

“If it’s a curse, can’t we just… break it? Somehow? Instead of making him suffer like this?” Jack asked.

Rowena shook her head. “Making him suffer like this is how we break the curse. If we don’t, then he’ll die exactly seven days after opening the box. He’s doing well, Jackie, and he’ll pull through.”

Meg’s laughter rang in Sam’s ears as he covered the others while they ran. His shotgun was able to hold off the hellhounds while Jo, Ellen, and Dean got to safety. He glanced over his shoulder, breathing a quick sigh of relief when he saw them at the hardware store.

Unfortunately, the distraction checking on them was enough. He didn’t hear the hellhound approaching from the side, and it took him down. The pack tore him to shreds. The hellhounds’ snarls and growls, Dean’s shouts, Meg’s laughter, Ellen’s screaming, all blended together while Sam bled out.

Castiel stopped the bleeding. “I am so grateful I was here instead of Dean. I can’t imagine him being okay with this.”

“No, I can’t either,” Rowena said. “I don’t know why the three of you won’t leave, really. I can handle whatever comes up. He won’t die on my watch.”

“You’re not a caretaker. You don’t understand the drive to look after someone, even if there’s little you can do.” Castiel brushed Sam’s hair back off his face. “The rest of us, we need to be here.”

Dick Roman certainly lived up to his name. Sam wanted nothing more than to gank his ass, but they were still working on figuring out how the hell to do that. The three of them were so not ready for this confrontation, but there Dick was, gun aimed at Bobby and the most vicious smile Sam had ever seen. He fired.

The bullet was heading for Bobby. Sam took off running. He knocked Bobby out of the way just in time, taking the bullet himself. Bobby got up, rolling Sam over carefully. “The hell did you do that for, idjit? Shoulda let me take it, you and Dean need each other a hell of a lot more than either of you needs me anymore. Why, boy?”

“Dean will be fine. Couldn’t let you die, Bobby. I couldn’t. I’m sorry.” Sam closed his eyes.

Dean just scowled when he saw the bullet hole appear on Sam’s temple. “Should be halfway, yeah?”

“Past, in fact. You may want to stop the bleeding, yes?” Dean rolled his eyes and got to work on that while Rowena administered the next dose of the potion. “Sam’s strong enough to handle this. The last person I tried to help survive this gave up after the third death and woke up. I don’t see Sam doing that.”

Dean’s head snapped up, staring at Rowena in horror. “That’s a possibility? After all this, Sam can wake up early and still die for real?”

“If it were most people, yes, it is. I don’t think so, not for Sam. Not unless one of these deaths is too good a hallucination of you or Castiel or Jack saying it’s a good thing he’s gone.”

“You were told not to use your powers,” Castiel said, graveled voice cutting through the haze of the detox. “Now I find out that not only did you keep using them, you used demon blood to power them up.”

“Not like your side was doing anything about Lilith,” Sam protested. “If you won’t, if Dean can’t, then I have to be strong enough to take her out. If you’ve got a better way, I’m all ears, but forgive my skepticism given that you guys completely missed the little rebellion going on in Heaven.”

Castiel’s face clouded with anger, and he put a hand to Sam’s forehead. “I don’t want the Apocalypse to happen. This is the best way to stop it, Sam. I’m sorry.”

Sam screamed as the power flowed through his body, overwhelming it cell by cell.

“No! No no no no… Rowena!” Jack ran to Sam, reaching out to stop whoever it was who was trying to smite his dad.

Rowena caught him just before he could make contact. “Jackie boy. We’re at six. One more, and Sam will be free of the curse. That’s all this is. It’s the curse. No one is actually killing Sam. I promise.”

Jack’s breathing was difficult, staring at the light erupting from Sam’s eyes and mouth as holy power consumed him. He didn’t bother fighting the tears. He tried to believe in Rowena, but he couldn’t do it, not fully. Not until the light faded, and Sam was still breathing. Still alive for Rowena to pour the potion into his mouth. “Dean said he might wake up anyway…”

“Dean is a worrywart. Samuel will not give up on this.”

Sam watched, mouth hanging open. That baby in the crib – that was him. Any minute now, his mother would be popping in. Sam slammed the door closed.

Azazel turned at the noise. “You? Interesting… but if you’re this old, something must have gone wrong. I don’t know how to fix it, but I can guess…” He raised a hand, and Sam went flying into the wall. “Oh, you recognize me! Interesting. I wonder… maybe I do need to let you live. If you die here…”

On one level, Sam wanted to tell him that Lucifer was topside, walking free, and wouldn’t be happy about having to track his true vessel through time to resurrect. Azazel would let him live. Mary would live. Things could be so different. 

On another level, Sam had a gut feeling. Someone needed to die tonight, and if it was him, then Mary would still live. So would Baby Him. “You lost. We stopped the Apocalypse. Shoved Lucifer’s ass right back in the Cage.”

“What a shame. I’ll just have to take precautions. Don’t suppose you feel like telling me how things went wrong, do you?” Sam shot him his very best go-to-Hell look, and Azazel sighed. “I didn’t think so. In which case, no point keeping you alive, is there.” He raised his hand, sliding Sam up to the ceiling. With a snap of his fingers, a gash appeared across his belly, and the room burst into flames.

Rowena rolled her eyes when she heard the breaking glass. “Yes, dearie, it’s distressing, I know. It’s the last one.”

“What’s happening to my son?” Mary stammered out. “Dean said he was going through a really rough week, but…”

Dean came running in. “Mom, it’s okay. He’ll… oh god. Figures this would be the one you come home to. Come on, let’s let Rowena do her thing and get Sam taken care of. It’s almost over, Sam should be good as new soon.” Dean led Mary out of the room.

Rowena took advantage of the silence to give Sam the last dose of potion. Then she sat back and waited. This part, she had no idea how long it would take.

Sam woke up to find five people watching him anxiously. “Hey guys. What’s wrong? You look like someone’s dying.” He looked down and smiled ruefully. “Okay, I admit, me being in bed this time of day I can see why you might think so…”

Four pairs of eyes swiveled to Rowena. She just shrugged. “You’ll remember, the only other time I’ve dealt with this curse, the victim didn’t survive. Samuel, dearie, it’s really for the best if you don’t remember the past week. Even without this, I think you have a few too many memories of dying, don’t you?”

“What? Dying… a week?!” Sam jumped out of bed, running to Dean for a hug. Then it was Mary, then Jack, and finally Castiel. “You guys are all okay, right? What happened?”

“You got cursed, had to die seven times in dreams or you’d die in real life. Rowena knew how,” Dean paused and glared at Rowena, “ _theoretically_ , to save you, but it was hell for us to watch. Been through worse, like watching you actually die, but still, not fun. Be careful with what you open around here!”

Castiel stroked Sam’s hair. “He’s right. We’re all fine, although this past week has been difficult. I think we’re all just glad that Rowena was right about how to save you and that you had the strength to endure the trials.”


End file.
